Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we have missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the Chamber and I hope you are enjoying the proceedings. It's always nice to have people in the gallery. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I brought up the recovery of households getting income assistance frozen across the North and especially my riding who people who need it most, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell me how many residents are having income assistance file reviewed or files frozen? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have those numbers on hand. But I can say that what the Member is speaking about is a few years ago, the Government of Canada introduced a number of different benefits for Canadians to help them get through the worst days of the pandemic. We as a department exempted CERB payments so those were not counted against income assistance applications; however, the later benefits were not exempted. And so clients who received those benefits, all they needed to do was declare that they received those. So even just verbally telling the client service officer that they received them so that we could count that because that's all income needs to be declared to receive income assistance. So what's happening now is that we're discovering clients who did not declare that income and we're following the regulations, and unfortunately there are some individuals who are being cut off. Not individuals. I've given direction to take a compassionate approach to this while still making sure that we comply with our own laws. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister consider putting the Canada Recovery Caregiver Benefit, which was more important than CERB as far as I'm concerned because people needed it the most. Would the Minister consider stopping penalizing people who needed the help the most at that time? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So as I said, we did exempt CERB, but we did not exempt the subsequent support programs, but we did inform all applicants that if they received those programs, they needed to declare it. So at this point, I can't go back and exempt some individuals and not others because others did declare it, and they didn't receive this benefit. And so it wouldn't be fair in that sense. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I think this Minister has the authority to do that. Like I said, CERB payment was given by the government so easily at that time making themselves look good. Now they're doing clawbacks, we're doing the federal government's dirty work by taking CERB payments, Canada recovery, taking it all back. People with nothing that have nothing in their fridges, elders got no food. What's happening? This government, no empathy on this side? This government has to take a step. Our Premier said take a step back, let's help the people. Let the Minister make the right decision, Mr. Speaker, and get this go down that list. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I agree it's a terrible situation. There's some individuals who are suffering. And if you're on income assistance, you're not making a bunch of money to begin with and so I get the concerns. And we took a more compassionate approach than other jurisdictions by exempting certain amounts, but at this point I can't commit to exempting these amounts now. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our Premier said it best before, lessons learned, take a step back. All this money that was given by the federal government, we should take a more lenient approach and put it all under from your T4, for your CERB payment, for your Canada revenue payment plan, should be all exempt from people. Our government, there's no jobs. There's nothing going on in the Beaufort Delta and in my riding. There's no jobs to be had. We live they have no choice but to go get income support. This Minister has the authority. Our Premier has the authority to take this off, Mr. Speaker. Do we have to make a motion in the House? Mr. Speaker, this government could do that. All it takes is a Minister's directive to make it happen. This government should show empathy on the people that we work for across this territory and have I guess not have it as good as down here in Yellowknife or in the south. People are suffering. You know it too, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And we did learn lessons from COVID. That's why this budget includes the biggest overhaul to the income assistance program in a generation with millions of dollars more budgeted that will go directly to clients. The situation the Member's talking about, though, in the future we're still going to see those situations because at the end of the day, the program requires people to declare their income. And if they don't declare their income, there's consequences. However, we are looking at even that aspect. There needs to be some rules but we're definitely taking a more compassionate and lenient approach going forward. We want to avoid these types of situations. We want to help people budget. We want to help them so that they don't run into these situations. But unfortunately this is the situation we're in. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Lands. I think he's got three days left, but on the review of the project assessment policy. The Minister committed to have the review completed in December 2022 in response to my written questions in March of last year.
Can the Minister tell us the status of that review and whether the work to revise this antiquated and regressive policy will be done by the end of the 19th Assembly? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Lands.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Lands has engaged with other departments and has completed an initial review of the project assessment policy. With the announcement of the merger of Lands and ENR, further work of the policy will continue under the Department of Environment and Climate Change. And I expect some to share some of the information on the project assessment policy with committee in upcoming months. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. The clock is running out. In response to the written questions I submitted in March 2022, the Minister said that there would not be any public engagement or work with Indigenous governments on the review of the project assessment policy. We have these public engagements on such mundane matters as renaming the old Stanton Hospital and a product survey for liquor and cannabis, but we're not going to ask the public about how GNWT should be involved in environmental assessment major projects? Can the Minister explain why the department does not want to seek public input into revising the project assessment policy? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the project assessment policy's an internal policy that defines how the GNWT works internally amongst departments for project assessments. So at such time, we will not be or planning to have public engagement on this policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Although it may be an internal policy, it's a public interest. That's why I keep raising it in the House. A key feature of the devolution agreement was the establishment of an Intergovernmental Council to allow the public and Indigenous governments to cooperate and collaborate on matters related to lands and resources management. The goal of the Intergovernmental Council is to work together to explore ways to coordinate the respective lands and resource management practices, share capacity, and avoid duplication.
Mr. Speaker, those two sentences are directly from an IGC website. So can the Minister explain why his department does not intend to work with Intergovernmental Council in reviewing the project assessment policy? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the policy's not solely focused on land and resource management issues as defined in the intergovernmental agreement as the Member talked about. As I stated earlier, the policy defines how the GNWT works internally among departments for project assessments. As such, there is no requirements or plans to work with IGC on this policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Final short supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I'll try my best here. You know, the Minister talks about this not being part of the work that the Intergovernmental Council does but I think he probably needs to check with them. But, you know, this project assessment policy is not about an evidencebased make or evidencebased process. It's about preventing presentation of evidence and expert opinion that is not consistent with Cabinet's views.
So can the Minister tell us whether this government is really committed to evidencebased decisions and how that will be implemented in the context of GNWT sponsored projects and related decisionmaking? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, government is committed to evidencebased decisions, and as I've said previously, the project assessment policy will continue to support the representation of the GNWT's evidence and expert's opinions. Currently the Department of Lands and, on April 1st, the Department of Environment and Climate Change, is working to define how the GNWT can be more transparent in environmental assessments, including decisionmaking of the GNWT's project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I spoke about the importance of decentralization of government jobs and services. Can the Premier confirm if it's a priority of the executive and of Cabinet to promote and support the decentralization of public jobs public service jobs away from the capital? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Within the priorities that were developed by the Legislative Assembly, there wasn't a decentralization; there was a priority around regional decisionmaking however and we're working towards that. However, in saying that, Mr. Speaker, decentralization has been a priority of the previous governments, and it's a priority of our government. It always should be a priority. Many of the Members from the Cabinet are outside of Yellowknife. They're constantly reminding us all the time that and I recognize that myself, that we need jobs in every single community, and we're doing the best we can to make sure that that happens. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, can the Premier provide some concrete examples on what efforts the executive has done throughout the 19th Assembly to support the decentralization of public service jobs away from the capital? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's a couple of things that are examples that have actually carried on into this Assembly that have been from previous Assemblies, though, such as the priority hires. It's still a priority. Every position that comes across the Cabinet table is always scrutinized. Are they a priority hire? If not, why not. So that's one example. The other is, again, from previous governments that we continue, secondment so that both ways so that if, for example, Indigenous governments need a worker in their community, we will second from the GNWT and vice versa. That helps in actually building the skills that I think people need. One of the best ones that I do have to give credit for Minister Wawzonek from finance is the remote work policy that was just brought in. After COVID, I mean, we realized that we could use the internet more. So the remote work policy, my recollection is correct, is that you can if you have a job that's offered in the headquarters in Yellowknife, you can talk to your supervisor and if you can do it remotely, you can do that in a community. It only goes one. That cannot happen for jobs in communities that that person can come to Yellowknife. So that's a great example of work that were done in this government to make sure that we have jobs in the communities and decentralize positions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, can the Premier tell us if she believes her government has been successful with decentralizing jobs and services into the communities and regional centres? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mean, I'd like to say yes but the reality is is that it's work that's always going to have to happen. Like I said, it's a concern for all of us, and it should be a concern. We need to make sure that all communities actually have the economic opportunities, including jobs, which is economic opportunities, to be able to support their residents. Like I said before, Mr. Speaker, I think that the biggest achievement to this government has been the remote work policy. I think it's a little bit too early to actually give stats on that, though, because it's only been a few months. But I am looking forward to actually seeing the stats on that and actually seeing if it works. And it'll take a little bit of time. Things take time in government to change the culture. But I'm a big advocate of it. I think I do thank the Minister for actually bringing that forward and I am thinking that hopefully within a year or two, you'll see huge results because of that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Final supplementary. Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, could the Premier tell us if she considers the centralization of government services and jobs as a problem, and does she consider it as a threat to small communities or regional centres? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I again, I think that it's always a concern when the majority of problems are in one community and we have many communities that we have to take care of. I know that we do try to make sure that we have regional positions for all departments within the communities. But I do think that there's more work to be done. And I don't think that it's only this government. I think that it's going to have to be work done for many governments to come. We need to look at the jobs. We need to look at the departments. We need to look at positions. So it's ongoing work. Our commitment as Cabinet has been to try to get as many jobs in the communities as possible, and I'm hoping that the next Assembly will continue that work and try to get as many jobs into the communities as appropriate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for your latitude in extending me some time to conclude my Member's statement. And thank you to all my colleagues as well.
Mr. Speaker, whenever I go back into my riding in Lutselk'e or Fort Resolution, they keep talking about Cosmos 954 and the impacts and the cumulative impacts as well. And that happened in 1978. And I know bringing this up now, but I didn't give enough time to the Premier, and I do apologize about that as well. But I just wanted to see if there's a way we could work with this government and Government of Canada to start bringing this issue out and really take a look as to how we could work together and call for a public inquiry. My question to the Premier. Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm trying to figure out the question in that. I think there might be a couple in that one.
I do thank the Member. I do kind of wish he would have given me a heads up because I was trying to rush and read what the Cosmos 954 was. It was in 1970 something '78. I was 18 years old. I wasn't looking at what the sky was doing in all honesty. But I do think that I would be more than willing to actually sit down with the Member and actually find out more about this because I'm not sure if it's a public inquiry, what work has been done, what's out there. So more than willing to sit down with the Member and get more educated on this Cosmos 954 and the results after. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I go back into the communities, like we got a lot of community members and elders talk about that there is still probably a large uranium that's probably in the water and they're concerned about that. That's also on the land. So that affects the fish and the aquatic life and birds and everything else. So I look forward to work with the Premier on this. But this is going back to 1978. Giant Mine, you know, it happened in 1946, 56 years later it closed, and we had a public inquiry, a public inquiry which essentially is like an environmental assessment hearing. And I was the chairman. I chaired that. To clean up that mine now we're looking at about $1.4 billion. So I'm just saying on Cosmos 954, there's got to be a way to work with Government of Canada and ask for a public inquiry. So, yes, I look forward to working with the Premier but at the same time we need your help to bring this out in the open because this is significant. We got trappers that go out into the land and they make tea in the wintertime; they add snow and they make tea and then they drink the water that came from the snow. A year later they died. So I'm asking you for your help to bring this out and to work with the Government of Canada to ask for a public inquiry on this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think this is a good example. Like I said, I'm just learning about it, but it's an example of many things that have happened in the Northwest Territories. There's been, you know, either there's been mines, like you used the example Giant Mine. There's been uranium mines in the Northwest Territories. One of the mines my father worked at and died of cancer, but he was also a smoker so I can't trace if that was smoking or if it was working in the uranium mine. But many people in the Northwest Territories have examples of cancer that have impacted us because of we're not sure what. So, and that's why we're so tough on the way we monitor our land and water and why we work with Indigenous governments to make sure that it's clear.
But what I can commit to I can't commit to a public inquiry yet because I need to find out what happened after this. Once I find out what happened, I'll get back to the Member and look at how we can move this forward and to see what responsibilities we can talk to Canada about. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Premier, for your response. Normally at the end of a public inquiry, through that process we also could look at, you know, compensation and also a public apology. So that's kind of what I'm hearing from the community, from the chief and council in Lutselk'e, and they brought that to my attention. So in our dialogue, I guess as we bring this out and look at it and how we're going to approach it, that's also something that the people are looking for. So just so the Premier knows about that so maybe if she could just add a comment to that as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. Taken as a comment. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't speak for the federal government, but I do believe in my heart that the federal government is talking about reconciliation and trying to figure out what that looks like. So, again, I'll look into what's happened with this, but I can't commit that the federal government would do a public apology. I'm just hopeful, I know they're listening that actually they will consider that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Standing Committee on Government Operations put forward its report on official languages. One key recommendation from that report is to transform the GNWT as an employer into a creator of Indigenous languages speakers. This would be a game changer.
Mr. Speaker, the GNWT seems to have already started moving in this direction. The Indigenous Recruitment and Retention Action Plan includes a goal to develop an Indigenous language professional development program. So can the Minister provide a status update on this program, including targets for how many employees will receive training and when the training will become available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
